Only 53% of IT professionals believe their organisation's leaders are capable of understanding the path to digital transformation.

Published: 17 November 2017 - 4:56 a.m.

By: Mark Sutton

Almost half of all IT professionals are
not confident that their organisation's leadership is digitally literate,
according to survey from ISACA.

Forty-seven percent of business technology pros either don't
think their business leaders have a solid understanding of technology and its
impacts, or are unsure, according to the latest Digital Transformation Barometer.
Only 53% of respondents felt that their leadership is digitally literate.

In addition, only one quarter of leaders (23%) are very receptive
to emerging technologies, compared to 17% who are not very receptive to new
tech and 7% who are not at all receptive. Half were rated moderately receptive.

The Digital Transformation Barometer data delves into
digital transformation and digital literacy within leadership, as well as emerging
and disruptive technologies, through surveying over 4,000 IT, security and
business executives in range of industries and organisation sizes around the
globe.

"With this research, ISACA's global membership provides a digital
transformation reality check that assesses actual technology adoption plans,
levels of sentiment of support and concern, and monetary commitments to deploy
emerging technology by geography and industry," said ISACA CEO Matt Loeb,
CGEIT, CAE. "The resounding message from our research is clear: senior
leadership needs to invest in increasing its digital fluency. Organisations
with digitally fluent leadership are more clearly recognizing the benefits and
risks of emerging technologies."

The report also suggests that challenges with digital
literacy and receptivity to adopting emerging technology are not limited to the
C-suite. Broader organisational challenges and cultural resistance play a role
in the process of deploying certain digital transformation technologies.

Almost half of global respondents anticipate facing organisational
challenges or resistance when deploying AI/machine learning/cognitive tech (49%),
public cloud (48%), and Internet of Things (46%), and roughly a third of
respondents anticipate the same kind of resistance when deploying blockchain
(34%) or big data analytics (31%).

The survey also showed differences in receptiveness for new
technologies between industries and regions.

"Emerging technologies have to be embraced," said Loeb. "As
the research shows, the reluctance to deploy them is linked to the need to
understand and mitigate the risks of doing so. Organizations that implement a
strong information and technology governance program will better understand
their capabilities, which leads to more effective risk management and increased
confidence in deployment of these technologies."